We put together a campaign based on the theme, “Where’s Jesus?” This was intended to focus on the idea that Jesus can be found in unlikely places, and amongst marginalised people. There was also a tongue-in-cheek link to “Where’s Walley” which we wanted to play with using social media.
A grant of £2,000 from the Jerusalem Trust helped pay for the production of three thirty second radio adverts. This figure includes £1,228.75 for Jungle Studios, who did an amazing job. We also spent money on vocal talent.
There were three adverts. Each one focussed on a different character: a mum who struggles to pay the bills, a refugee and someone who doesn’t have much faith. Each one was humorous, but also attempted to make a serious point about God’s commitment to all people.
We raised and spent £2,572.81 on air-time with Heart MK – reaching an estimated 150,000 people. Our research into previous listener response, and our good relationship with the station, meant we were able to maximise our impact around peak times.
Unfortunately, the station didn’t like the refugee ad because they though it was “too preachy”, but the other two were played. We also ran a web site and a social media campaign with pictures of “Jesus” taken around the city. We paid for Facebook ads to boost this, and this reached over 4,000 people (clicks by 512). With more preparation, we think this aspect of our campaign would be even more successful if we did something similar next year…
The radio adverts were also used by churches in the Newbury area who paid for around £2,000 worth of air-time with Heart FM, a small local station in Aylesbury, and by Radio Shetland, who were willing to use all three adverts.
We have not had time to review the campaign properly yet, but the group feels that a second campaign in 2018 with a similar focus would help build impact. The adverts will also be available for use through Church Ads.
We would like to thank Jerusalem Trust for their grant, which made it possible to produce high-quality audio. We would also like to thank the staff of Jungle Studios, who went way beyond the call of duty to make the adverts work so well. None of this would have been possible, however, without the volunteers who gave time, and the churches who gave so generously.
